I Wanna Know You
by kazuko59
Summary: What started as chance meeting grows into tentative friendship between Karin and Toshiro. People around them began to notice as the two started to discovering a few things about the other. Cut scenes of the major events in their relationship as it grows and blooms, and how others around them plays their part in it.
1. 1st Verse

k59: my 1st fanfic that is not HSJ related^^.. i was listening to this song when i though, this is so Toshiro n Karin (with a bit of exception here and there), so this is the result.. this is only the 1st part though.. i'm still working on the 2nd verse of the song n i'll upload it as soon as i'm done.. enjoy the story^^~ if you found any mistakes in there, don't hesitate to tell me :)

update: well, what happened is, someone warn me about using lyrics in story, so i'm going to heed his? her? warning on this.. you might want to listen to the song if you want to see where i'm going with this.. but it's not a must..

* * *

**I Wanna Know You**

(inspired by a song by Miley Cyrus ft. David Archuleta with the same title)

xxx

xxx

The first time Karin met him, they didn't exactly talk, per say.

Exchanging a few sentences could hardly be counted as a decent conversation. Especially when all of them were spoken by one person.

It all started with – as most of her troubles had – her moronic, orange haired older brother. She was so frustrated and mad with worry about that idiot who had disappeared _again_ with no explanation whatsoever.

So, yeah, she might have kicked the soccer ball a little too hard.

Okay, fine! More than a little.

But she's glad that she did. Cause if not, she wouldn't have met him.

He was so cool, was the first thought that she had.

Black shirt and faded blue jeans with dark brown shoes. He looked every bit like those boys in her school who were trying to look "grown up" and looked more like children playing adults. The difference though, the get up actually worked for him.

Maybe it was a little strange that it was not the colour of his hair that caught her attention – which was what normal people would have – but his display of skill in soccer. Instead of picking the soccer ball with his hands, he handled it with his foot and tossed it upwards before catching it with his hand.

What could she say? She's a tomboy to the core!

And _then_, she saw his face.

Well, not exactly his _face_, but it was totally his fault for having such an eye catching hair colour!

Snow was what entered her mind instantly. He has such a white hair that she was reminded of the freshly fallen snow that she and her twin sister loved to chuck on the two idiotic males in their family every winter.

When he turned his face to her, she was ready to say something really, but something else caught her attention. His eyes were blue!

They were not the sky kind of blue though. There was a hint of green too in them and in her opinion it only served to make them even more captivating. She felt like she could just stare at his eyes for hours to admire their colour.

She was startled out of her trance when he spoke to her. And too stunned as she was, she couldn't even speak one decent word to him.

Then he kicked the soccer ball to her and she marveled at how good his aim was. She only had to raise her hands and the ball just landed there.

He was gone before she could even say thank you.

xxx

xxx

She was drawn to him, if she was to be honest with herself.

The next meeting they have was when she was walking home with her soccer friends.

He was just standing there, leaning at the low guard rail, idling with his cell phone and looking every bit like a frozen statue.

So, ignoring her friends' surprised shouts, she ran up to him. He noticed her coming – she wasn't exactly being discreet – and she stopped a few meters away from him. Finally, she was able to thank him.

She really didn't know what possessed her to ask him to help them with the soccer match against the middle schoolers when they didn't even know each others' names.

It was of no surprise that he refused.

When he started to walk away from them, she – without giving it much thought – kicked her soccer ball at him as he walked away from them. Hard.

To her surprise, he jumped and executed a perfect over head shot.

There was no way her teammates were going to let him go after that little show. The four boys had gone 'fangirling' – as she was told by Yuzu the correct term was – on him.

Well, at least they managed to get his name.

Hitsugaya Toshiro.

Winter valley.

Somehow she thought that the name suited him.

It wasn't until the day of the fated match that she understood why.

They were losing, badly. The score was 4-0 in their disadvantages and her knee was bruised. It hurts so bad that tears came to her eyes the one time she tried to tough it out.

Then he came, as if out of nowhere, and helped them won the match. Even though he gave the winning goal to her, she knew that she owed him for winning the match for them. Seriously, he defeat the middle schoolers single handedly, as if they were nothing more than kids trying to match up against a professional.

The celebration was cut short though, as she felt a dark presence that she had correlated with those monsters. It came as a surprise when she found out that he could see them as well.

He had saved her when she thought it was the end of her as the monster's hand came rapidly in her direction. When nothing came, she opened her eyes, to see him standing there with a long sword in his hand blocking the monster's huge hand.

But it was the black kimono that caught her interest. It is almost identical with the one she had seen her brother wearing, except for the white haori he had on.

He was a shinigami, she realized with amazement, just like that moronic brother of hers.

The monster didn't have a chance at all. With a single swing of his sword, the monster was encased in ice, before disappeared as the ice broke into thousands of tiny pieces.

He was the one who calm her troubled mind too. Even if he couldn't tell her where her reckless brother was, his words made her more in peace with the situation.

It was then that she had started to call him her close friend.

She was still going to kick her brother's ass when he came back though.

xxx

xxx

They met again a few times after that.

Every time he was in the world of living, he would visit her, though the first few really were coincidental. Most of the time, they talked. Sometimes in the park, more often than not in Haru-baachan's house.

And each time there were always time when he would just lashed out verbally at her, with the first time they met as the grand exception.

It was just so easy for her to ruffle his feathers, figuratively speaking, of course.

He steadfastly refused to tell her his age, so she continued to call him elementary school kid every now and then, much to his annoyance. Another thing that she so far hasn't managed to do was to get him to call her anything other than Kurosaki. He insisted on calling _everyone_ by their family name.

It was annoying as hell. Especially when they were talking about that idiotic brother of hers.

"I seriously see how you are related to Kurosaki, Kurosaki. Kurosaki is also annoyingly adamant in calling me by my given name. I have lost count on how many times I have to tell Kurosaki to call me Hitsugaya-taicho, just like I have with you, Kurosaki."

Or that one time when she asked him about Rukia-neesan.

"Kuchiki? Well, I can't exactly say much, seeing that I am not close to her. She has an older brother, who is a captain like me. Kuchiki is the captain of the sixth division, while Kuchiki is in the thirteenth squad under Ukitake. I know that Kuchiki is also obsessed with Chappy, seeing as Kuchiki's office is somewhat decorated with Chappy drawings. It's not like Kuchiki is better though. If you heard Abarai ranting off about Kuchiki as seaweed ambassador, as Abarai called it, you'll understand what I meant."

She has given up trying to make sense of what he was talking about then and proceeded to whack him on the back of his head for confusing her. Haru-baachan only laughed when she saw that.

Mostly, though, they could talk to each other just fine. Once she steered him off the topic that includes two or more people who had the same family name, that is.

It was during one of these talks that she realized he was unafraid to voice his opinions, to the point that she considered him to be a brutally honest person.

She wondered if he ever gotten into trouble because of that.

"Surprisingly rather often," he admitted.

"Really?" She leaned forward eagerly, wanting to know more. "Even though you are a captain?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, his hand reaching for another amanatto that Haru-baachan had prepared for them, "You do realize that I am not the only captain in Seireitei? There are thirteen of us. Not to mention that they, and unfortunately the rest of the shinigamis, are all older than me but one. And I don't mean only physically either."

She smirked at his petulant scowl, "So they do have lesson on manner in the elementary school there."

"I've told you, I am not an elementary school student!" Came the predictable outburst.

Haru-baachan laughed heartily from where she was watering the plants, a plus spirit of a little girl about seven in physical appearance tailing her around.

"Yes, yes. I'll believe that when you tell me your real age, Toshiro," she grinned at him cheekily.

"It's Hitsugaya, Kurosaki," he grumbles, popping another amanatto into his mouth.

"And I keep telling you, it's Karin," she bit back easily.

There was only undecipherable grumble this time. She grinned, knowing that she won this round just like usual.

"Then? You were saying?" She prompted him.

His response was a bewildered, "Saying what?"

She rolled her eyes. For all the genius that he was, he could be such a klutz sometimes, "You getting into trouble for saying things that you really shouldn't, even if they were the truth."

"Oh, that. Well, the most recent one was a few days ago, I think."

"What did you do?"

He scowled at her, "You make it sounds like I purposely got myself into trouble."

"You were the one who blurted out your thoughts without going through a filter first," she reminded him.

"Do you want me to continue?"

"Yes, please."

He sighs exasperatedly, "Anyway, I was in the captain meeting. For some reason, Yamamoto-shotaicho –"

"Who?"

"Captain of the first division," he replied crisply. "He insisted of having a captain meeting every week when the situation permits it. But it is really more like a weekly afternoon tea party, to be honest. I always thought that Ukitake, Kyouraku and Unohana put him up to it."

She gave him a confused stare and he sighed.

"Kyouraku is the eight division captain, Unohana is the fourth and I've told you about Ukitake. They were kind of the elder of the captains. It was supposed to be the times where the captains discuss inter division matters."

She hummed, sipping on her tea, "That's a good idea, right?"

"It would, if we actually use the time to do just that."

His eyebrow twitched when he said that and Karin had to grin. It sounded like the beginning of a great story from the look of it.

"So what do the captains actually do?"

"Like I said, afternoon tea party."

"And what happened that got you into trouble?"

"…"

"Toshiro," she whined at him.

The mumbled, "It's Hitsugaya," was not exactly unexpected.

"Toshiro!"

"I commented on Kurotsuchi's insane rambling, alright?"

"The psychotic scientist you mentioned before?"

"That's him."

"So what did you say?"

"First, it wasn't my fault that he was annoying. It's his. I was just saying that all those chemicals he experimented with may have finally gotten into his brain and caused him not to realize that no one really interested in what he was chattering nonstop about."

She stared at him, blinking her eyes for a couple of times, before bursting into laughter.

He groaned at that, "Stop laughing."

"You said that aloud?"

"Yes, I did. In my defense, I didn't think that everyone would actually hear what I said. They suddenly stopped chatting just at the right time for my comment to be heard clearly."

She grinned at him, "So, how did they react?"

"Well, at first they just froze, staring at me like I've grown a second head or something. Then Kyouraku started laughing while patting my back, saying that he's glad I've finally stopped being so serious. Most just went back to whatever they were doing, but I swear ever since then they have become more… touchy feely with me."

"Touchy feely?"

"Treating me like I'm a kid," he reluctantly explained with a scowl on his face.

"You are a kid," she reminded him.

He just glared at her before continuing.

"Then Kurotsuchi started to scream at me for being an insolent child – his words, not mine. And at the end of the day, I got an annoyingly long and embarrassing lecture from Ukitake about manners and learning to keep my opinion to myself. And gave me loads of sweets afterwards".

"Sweets?"

"I gave them to Kusajishi and Matsumoto most of the time. Ukitake liked to give me those, saying that we're both Shiro-chans. Both of us have white hair and 'shiro' in our names."

"That's not too bad," she said with a grin. "I thought when you said trouble, it would be like Ichi-nii's kind of trouble."

"Try facing similar things once a week at _least _and see if you can still say it's not too bad."

xxx

xxx

"Where are we going?"

"Oh, just hush! We'll be there soon enough."

"Kurosaki, the sun's setting soon. Don't you think Kurosaki will be worried?"

Karin sighed and turned around to face him, pointing a finger to his face, causing him to stop abruptly.

"Firstly," she shook her finger threateningly. "Which Kurosaki are you talking about? My dad? Ichi-nii? Yuzu? Dad is in one of his business trip again, and Ichi-nii and Yuzu are used to me going home late. As long as I'm home before dinner they'll be fine with it. Second, how many times do I have to remind you that it's Karin, Toshiro?"

"The same amount of time I have to tell you that it's Hitsugaya," he replied flippantly.

She huffed, feeling rather annoyed with the situation, "Infinite then." She then turned back and started marching off, "Now come on! Stop your whining and start walking."

"I do not whine!" Came the protest from behind her, but she could hear him shuffling through the greeneries behind her.

A few minutes of silence and finally she turned around to face him again, this time with a smug smile on her face. She watched as he stopped a meter in front of her and raised an eyebrow questioningly. She just grinned at him, before taking his hand and pulled him along as she walked again, ignoring his protest. Once he caught sight of what she had meant to show him though, he quieted down at once.

"Wow," he breathed out.

She laughed lightly and plopped down on the small clearing before the ground led to a rather stiff slope, patting the ground beside her. He took the hint and settled down beside her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Thought you'd like it, seeing that you like to watch the sky so much," she turned to him. "You should see the sunrise too, it's even more breathtaking than the sunset, in my opinion."

"I'll remember that," he smiled at her.

The two teens sat there in silence, simply enjoying the scenery.

"My mother showed me this place," she stated suddenly.

The boy beside her simply turned to look at her, though she kept her eyes on the horizon.

"When I was little, she would sometimes bring all of us here and we'll have a picnic. Usually at dawn, so we could watch the sunrise together. I think that's the reason I like the sunrise more than sunset."

She smiled lightly at him, to which he smiled softly back. He kept quiet, watching her silently and listening patiently, somehow knew that she had to get this off her chest, and so offering his support without words. For that, she was grateful.

"When she died, we were all devastated. Ichi-nii took it the hardest, I think. He just shut us out and went on a guilt trip, until Dad talked to him that Mom wouldn't want him to be alone."

Letting out a shaky breath, she drew her knees up, hugging them to her chest.

"Even after Mom's death, we still went for a picnic here every now and then, just to remember her and have a family time. We don't go as much now, but when I have the time, I would go here and just watch the sky. Sometimes I fell asleep here and didn't wake up until it's pretty late. Every time it happens though, Ichi-nii would always be here. Just sitting in silence, waiting for me to wake up."

A fond smile graced her features.

"You know, even for all the idiotic things Ichi-nii has done, he really is the best big brother in the whole universe. It's those small things that he'd do, seemingly insignificant but priceless. An off comment here and there, but still the best advice ever."

"You're scared for him," he murmured softly and she tightened her hold around her knees, closing her eyes.

"Very much so," she whispered back at him. "He's always gone off somewhere, saving Rukia-neesan, then Orihime-neesan, then went off to go training… I keep fearing that the next time he goes off, I won't be seeing him again."

She bit her bottom lip as the silence stretched. A sound of someone shifting and her entire right side was pressed into something warm. Her eyes opened in surprise and she turned around sharply to see Toshiro had moved to sit directly beside her. She felt her cheek heated up slightly and was grateful she could blame it on the twilight sky.

"I can't promise you that he'll be fine," his voice was soft and gentle and reassuring. "But he's strong. And he's Ichigo, your older brother. Believe in him and that he would always return to you and your family."

He smiled gently at her and she felt her heart skipped a beat. Swallowing down her nervousness she sighed heavily before resting her head onto his shoulder.

"I do," she didn't know why they whispered to each other, but it seemed appropriate for the situation. "Thank you, Toshiro."

This time, he didn't correct her.

xxx

xxx

"You two are together again?"

She glared at her orange haired brother for wording the question like that. She was tired from the soccer match and was not in the mood to deal with her idiotic brother right now.

"Don't start, Ichi-nii," she grunted at him.

The teenager turned to the white haired boy standing beside her with a bored expression, "Why is it that most of Karin's soccer matches are on the same day as your visits, Toshiro?"

The younger boy just huffed, not saying anything other than, "It's Hitsugaya-taicho to you, Kurosaki."

Her brother sighed in defeat, knowing too well the younger would not tell him without it being forced out of him, "Whatever. Just be back home for dinner, Karin. Bye, Toshiro!"

"It's Hitsugaya-taichou!" was what he got as parting words, to which the teenager only chuckled.

Toshiro turned to Karin, a scowl on his lips, "You two are definitely related."

"Oh, lighten up, Toshiro. I'm tired, let's just go sit down somewhere first," she grabbed his hand and started to drag him along with her.

He complained the whole way there, but she kept a firm grip on his hand. It was only after they reached their usual sitting place in the park that she let go of him.

"I hate the heat," was what he said the moment they sat down.

She grinned at him, "A minus side of having an ice type zanpakuto?"

"Partially," he flicked back the white locks of hair that had stuck onto his forehead. "I've never done well in hot weather. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her response was to lean closer to him, her grey eyes scrutinizing his face.

"How did you get that?"

He blinked at her, "Get what?"

She raised her hand and used her point finger to trace a light, thin scar just above his left eyebrow, the part which was usually covered by a lock of white hair.

"Oh," he reached up touch the scar. "This? It's nothing."

She frowned, "Don't nothing me. Come on, tell me. Was it one of your battle?"

"I wouldn't call it a battle, a fight is more like it. This scar is the first one that I ever got," he smiled lightly at her.

"What happened?"

"You won't let me get away from this, will you?"

Her response was to shake her head.

"I thought as much," he sighed, crossing his arms. "It was when Hinamori and I were still at the academy. One of the older students was making a really unsavory comment about her, so I punched him," he shrugged uncaringly.

She had to stare at him, "You punched him?"

He scowled, "If someone said what he said about your sister, I'm sure you'd have reacted the same way. In any case, I was just admitted in there, so punching was the only thing I could do."

"And, of course, you two ended up brawling on the ground like any other boys would do," she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, not exactly," he looked so embarrassed that her curiosity shot up.

She leaned forward, trying to catch his eyes, "Then? Come on, Toshiro. You can't leave it hanging like that."

He let out an irritated breath, "You know that I entered the academy far younger than anyone else, right?"

"Yes," she gave him a wide grin. "You told me that the academy's tailors needed to custom make your uniform because even their smallest seemed to swallow you in."

"Exactly," he huffed irritably, "Can you just imagine the difference in our sizes? He just had to swing his fist really hard and I went flying. This," he traced the small scar again, "was from where his knuckle hit me."

She hummed lightly, "So it ended right away? Were you alright?"

To her surprise, a smirk blossomed on his face.

"Oh, it ended up right away, but not from that. I haven't learnt to control my reiatsu yet, so when I got angry, it reacted to my anger. I think I caused a lot of those watching to have frostbite that day."

She shook her head, though her lips were pulled into a grin as well, "Really now, only days in academy and already made a name for yourself?"

He shrugged uncaringly, "They didn't bother me anymore after that, so it was worth it. I managed to avoid punishment as well, seeing that I can't control my reiatsu yet, though they did assign us both detentions for fighting. And Hinamori gave me an earful for getting into trouble," he ended with a scowl.

She frowned and poked his head lightly at the side.

"I know that your grandma taught you to be polite and call others by their family name. But surely you can call your older sister by her given name?"

He bristled at that, "Hinamori is not my older sister."

"Not by blood, maybe," she shrugged. "But you do see her as one?"

She smiled in amusement when he just looked away, light blush on his cheeks.

"We're not that close anymore," he finally said. "When I was really little I used to call her Momo-neesan. But then she left me and Granny by ourselves to go to the academy and we grew apart."

"Maybe you can start again now? She's already awake, right?"

He sighed tiredly, resting his chin on his palm, "I'm not sure if we can be as close as we used to. There are just so many hurtful feelings between us now."

His face was so troubled that she felt her heart went out to him. She bumped her shoulder lightly with his and gave him a small smile when he turned to look at her.

"Well, why don't you start small. Like, calling her something else other than her family name. Something that you feel comfortable calling her, but less formal too."

He seemed to give her suggestion a thought, before a mischievous glint entered his eyes and he grinned at her.

"Well," his grin seemed to widen. "I did use to call her bed wetter Momo."

xxx

xxx

Karin swore profusely as the hollow – as Toshiro kept reminding her – didn't seem to have even a scratch from where her soccer ball had hit it. Hurriedly dodging the huge hand that came to her direction, she resorted to the one thing that she could do in this kind of situation.

She ran.

And, of course, the hollow followed her right away.

"This will be a good time for you to show up, Toshiro," she grunted as the huge hand came to her again, sending her off her feet and onto the grassy ground of the riverbank. When she looked up, the hollow was already looming over her.

"This doesn't look good," she commented off handedly despite the situation and started to scramble to stand up.

Before she could though, the hollow was suddenly encased in ice. It then shattered into thousands ice shards, a reminiscent of the day she found out Toshiro was a shinigami.

A white haired boy in a black kimono walked towards her, sheathing the long sword onto his back.

"Show off," she smirked at him.

He only raised an eyebrow. "Who has just saved your ass," he bit back as he offered her his hand – which she took – and pulled her to her feet.

She scowled at him, "Well, it may not need saving if you just teach me how to use my reiryoku."

He crossed his arms as he adopted a stern expression, "And I keep telling you that I can't, Kurosaki. It's against orders. Humans are not even supposed to know about shinigami."

"Ichi-nii is a shinigami. And he's a living human being," she argued.

"He's an exception."

"Well, can't you make an exception for me as well?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Toshiro!"

"Hitsugaya, Kurosaki."

She let out a growl and threw her hands up in exasperation, "I give up."

"That would be a good decision," he nodded, looking rather pleased with the outcome.

She sent him a glare, before a rather mischievous glint entered her eyes.

"Say, Toshiro," she started with a grin, not paying his muttered 'Hitsugaya' any mind. "Are you on patrol right now? Or are you off duty?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, but answered anyway, "They don't usually send a captain on patrolling duty, except when the situation required it that there is a captain present. So, no, I'm not on duty."

Her grin widened, "You're on vacation then?"

"On leave, not vacation."

"So, you're not here as a captain, right? But as Hitsugaya Toshiro?"

"Whatever you are trying to do, stop it, I said no. I thought you said you gave up?"

"But you're not even on duty! You're not acting as a captain right now, so by default, you aren't breaking any orders if you teach me some self defense."

"That's not how it works and you know it."

"I'm sorry, Hitsugaya-taicho?"

The two preteens turned to where the voice came from and she had to stare at the sight of a rather big group of nine shinigamis that have gathered. The one who had spoken, a man who looked like I his mid twenty and obviously the group's leader, stood nearer to them.

"Yes, Maruyama-kyuuseki?"

She blinked when the man seemed to hesitate, glancing at her unsurely.

"It's alright," Toshiro quickly said, noticing what the man was worrying about. "She's the substitute shinigami's little sister."

The man's eyes widened considerably, "Kurosaki-san's?"

"Well, I can definitely see the resemblance," the woman with her hair in a high ponytail stated.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Karin shrugged. "We both take after that idiot father of ours. Ichi-nii is unlucky enough to get orange hair though."

"You don't say," the man wearing a headband laughed boisterously.

Toshiro's eyebrow twitched at the scene, "Why are you all here instead of patrolling?"

Karin had to stifle a laugh when the nine immediately don serious expression. The sight of nine grownups saluting a kid was just hilarious, even though she knew Toshiro had earned it.

"Sir! We were patrolling when we sensed the hollow and then you fighting it. We all thought you came here with an order for us," the man who first spoke reported.

The white haired boy sighed, "No, I am on leave right now. I just happened to be in the neighborhood when the hollow attacked. You can all go back to your posts. Dismissed."

All nine saluted him before disappearing in shunpos.

"Are all of them from your division?" she asked him once they were gone.

"They are," Toshiro said as they started walking. "They are members of squad 6 which is assigned for patrol duty in Karakura town."

She hummed in reply, "They look like an interesting bunch."

"Believe it or not, the higher the rank, the more insane they seem to be," he scowled.

"You realize that you yourself are a captain?" Amusement was clear in her voice as she stifled her chuckle.

He huffed rather childishly, "I happened to be the only exception."

"Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll convince yourself that it's true." She snickered at him, ignoring his glare. "Do you know them well?"

"As a captain it is my duty to know all my subordinates well, no exception. So I took it upon myself to know them well enough to recall the information within moment notice. It is rather important to determine which sub-squad they go to and which job suits their ability the best," he explained it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She could feel her eyes widening in disbelief, "You mean you memorized their names and abilities? You told me there are a little more than 200 in your division."

He just shrugged indifferently, "It's not that hard. Once I know someone's name, I usually won't ever forget it. And it's rather easy to match people's abilities to their faces once you do."

She blinked repeatedly, "So you don't forget people's names?"

"Not ever."

"The boy in my soccer team with the blonde hair?"

"Toba Ryohei."

"The one with the glasses?"

"Usaka Kazuya."

"With afro hair?"

"The one I hit with the soccer ball? Uehara Kei."

"How about the one with small eyes and black hair?"

"Tojoin Heita."

"Strawberry blonde, wavy, long hair and pale blue eyes."

"You would think that I would remember my own lieutenant's name, but sure. Matsumoto Rangiku."

"The female shinigami earlier? The one with high ponytail?"

"Yoshihara Airi, the fastest among the group and good in Kido. Could improve more in kenjutsu though."

"The one with the headband?"

"Kimoto Takumi, prefer brute strength and more than decent shunpo, but not so in Kido. You do know that you have no way to make sure that I didn't make it up for the last two?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I know you well enough to know you're too noble for that," she answered with a rather dazed expression. "You know, Toshiro," she continued to stare at him, too occupied with this newest revelation about her shinigami friend to react to his usual annoyed correction of 'Hitsugaya'.

"You sure take the term genius to a whole new level."

xxx

xxx

Karin sighed in annoyance as her twin sister started one of her boy talk again with her female friends. This was exactly why he she preferred having boys as friends.

Though she supposed it would backfire on her later on when they are in middle or high school.

"…, right Karin-chan?"

She jolted out of her thought when he heard her sister called her name.

"Sorry, what?"

The auburn haired twin pouted before proceeded to whine, "Really, Karin-chan. I was talking to you and you're not listening to me."

Surprisingly, the other two girls who were with them started giggling.

"Maybe she's thinking about her boyfriend, Yuzu-chan," the one with twintails, Koike Tomomi, gushed.

Karin's eyes widened in shock, "What?!"

"My, my, Karin-chan, don't be embarassed. Yuzu-chan was just telling us about your boyfriend whom you brought home a few weeks ago," Takeuchi Saki, a petite girl with shoulder length wavy hair, giggled.

"Yuzu!" Karin turned to her smiling sister. "I told you Toshiro is not my boyfriend!"

"But the two of you are so cute together," Yuzu gushed back at her, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling.

"But I'm sure jealous," Tomomi sighed dreamily. "I also want a boyfriend who's not childish."

Saki swooned together with her, "I know. None of the boys in our school is cool. They're so immature."

Karin could feel her vein pulsing when the two girls sighed dejectedly together. "Now listen to me here," she tried to reign in her infamous temper. "Toshiro is –"

"Right here…?"

All four girls turned to the source of the voice.

Karin's eyebrow twitched when she saw Toshiro standing there with a confused expression on his face.

He was wearing a black long sleeved T-shirt with white pattern on the bottom left side and black jeans. A pair of white shoes adorned his feet and the pale blue scarf around his neck was the only splash of colour in his otherwise monochrome clothing.

His clothes were a tad too light for the still freezing January's winds in her opinion.

And his timing couldn't be any worse!

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but you were talking in the middle of the street," the boy, misunderstanding her current dilemma, explained himself.

"Toshiro-kun!" Yuzu smiled widely at him, before glancing to her twin's direction. Her eyes seemed to sparkle more and Karin felt dread filled her. "Oh! Just ignore me and my friends here, we're just about to go anyway. Right, Saki-chan, Tomo-chan?"

The other two girls giggled their yes and the three hastily said their goodbye, leaving the two alone. Karin massaged her temple when she heard her sister and friends started gushing on how cute they were together.

"What was that about?" Came the clueless inquiry from her source of today's headache.

"Yuzu got it in her head that we are dating each other. I'm guessing that the gossip will spread to the whole school by tomorrow."

He only sweat-dropped at her monotone explanation, "I guess stubbornness runs in your family, huh?"

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here? Taking a leave again?"

He scowled, "Escaping is more like it."

She hummed as they fell into step beside each other, just like the other times they have met. They just instinctively moved together, falling easily into conversation.

"From what?"

"Not what. Who," he corrected. "Matsumoto dragged me to go shopping with her. She insisted that the human world has more variety in clothing."

She had to grin, "What? Too feminine for you?"

He snorted, "Too noisy more like. She brought the whole SWA with her this time."

"SWA?"

"Shinigami Women Association."

"You guys have that kind of thing too in Soul Society? Won't they notice you gone?"

"Not likely. They will be too busy ogling the dresses and accessories and whatever it is they planned on buying. Although, it's likely that they saw me escaping and let me go."

"Why – Ah, Valentine's Day preparation? The girls in my school are already starting to talk about who to give and all that."

He nodded with a frown on his face, "I don't get why they are so excited about it."

"Toshiro," she started with a patronizing tone, feeling rather smug of herself as he finally stopped correcting her about his name the last time he visited. Now she just had to work on him calling her by her given name. "It's the day for girls to give their male friends or boyfriends chocolates to show their affection."

The white haired boy only huffed, "Which is why it's stupid. You don't need a special day to do that. You're supposed to show it any time you can."

She shrugged, "Maybe, but it is a special day for girls and boys alike, regardless your opinion on it."

"Unfortunately," he mumbled in annoyance.

"Why are you so against it?" A grin spread across her face, "Have any bad experience about it?"

He sighed tiredly, "Not really, no. I am just not seeing the point of getting excited over it."

Just as she was about to say something, she was interrupted.

"Taaaaiiiichooooo," the caller dragged all the vocals in the word and she saw the boy flinched. "There you are! When I said we're going to go shopping, I meant you are supposed to be there as well. Oh, hi, Karin-chan!"

Karin smiled at the lieutenant as she walked up to them, "Good afternoon, Rangiku-san!"

"Taicho," Rangiku pouted at him as she whined, "You should have just told me that you were visiting Karin-chan. I was looking everywhere for you."

The white haired boy sighed, "Yes, yes, my bad. Are you guys all done?"

The bubbly woman perked up again, "Oh yes! They were all waiting at Urahara's already. I'm sorry to cut this short, Karin-chan. But we really have to go."

"It's okay. Bye, Rangiku-san, Toshiro."

Rangiku waved cheerfully and Toshiro smiled slightly at her before they parted ways.

When Karin finally reached home, Yuzu was waiting at the other side of the door, bouncing on her feet and grinning widely. She barely had time to pull off her shoes when he sister started to drag her to their bedroom.

"Slow down, Yuzu. What's wrong anyway?"

Her sister ignored her protest and continued to drag her, "You have to see this, Karin-chan!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just, look!"

She felt Yuzu pushed her into their room and to her desk. Her eyes widened when she saw what was laying on it that she was sure wasn't there this morning.

In the middle of her desk was a single light yellow flower, lying on top of what seemed to be a white scarf. Next to them was a small card and she reached for it first, Yuzu hovering behind her, peeking over her shoulder.

'Don't get sick,' was the simple message. At the bottom right corner was an initial. 'H.T.'

She heard Yuzu squealed from behind her.

"Karin-chan is so lucky," the auburn haired twin gushed, before turning her sparkling eyes at her sister. "What are you going to do, Karin-chan?"

"Well, I'll tell him thank you the next time I see him."

Yuzu seemed to deflate, "That's it?"

Karin looked at her confusedly, "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Karin-chan, don't you know what flower that is?"

The black haired girl looked towards the flower, having recognizing it the moment she saw it. Toshiro had given her a long lecture about that particular flower. It's his division's flower after all.

"Daffodils, right?

Yuzu just giggled at her and she got the feeling that her bubbly sister knew something she didn't.

"Well, I'm going to start making dinner," Yuzu sang as she skipped out of their room, leaving her twin sister to stare at her in confusion.

"Oh, and Karin-chan?" The auburn haired girl peeked her head back into the room, "If you give him a return gift, make sure to send a rainflower as well with it."

Karin could only blink at her twin's – from her perspective – confusing behavior.

xxx

xxx


	2. 2nd Verse

k59: as promised, the 2nd versed.. i may come back later to correct some grammar mistakes that i made, coz i'm in kind of a hurry right now.. hope you enjoy the story^^~

update: as i said in the previous chapter, i'm heeding the someone's warning with this.. so, yeah, you would need to look for the song yourself to know how it goes.. it's not compulsory though..

* * *

**I Wanna Know You ~ 2nd verse**

(inspired by song by Miley Cyrus ft David Archuleta with the same title)

xxx

xxx

For the first time ever since they became close, they were sitting in silence.

And it wasn't a comfortable one either.

There was this thick tension around them and she had no idea how to dispel it. A glance at her side showed that the white haired boy looked just as tensed as she was.

Once again, they were sitting on the small hill near the town, watching the sunset.

Gathering her wits, she softly spoke, her voice just a little above a whisper, "There's a big battle coming, right?"

He nodded, before answering with the same volume, "Soon."

"Ichi-nii?"

"Will be at the very front line."

She felt her breath getting shorter, "And you?"

The silence return, before he turned to face her with what she knew to be a reassuring but forced smile. Her older brother had given the same kind of smile to her many times. The dread in her heart grew stronger.

"I think I'll be a little safer than Ichigo will be."

She felt tears starting to sting her eyes. He never used anyone's given name, except when he was trying to console her or ease her worry. Just hearing him using his brother's name showed how grave and dangerous the situation really was.

"But you're still be in danger."

He whispered back, voice low and soft, "So are thousands others. Including you, and your family and friends."

There was that dreaded silence again.

"You remember what you told me here?" She almost chocked on her breath. "The day I show you this place?"

His smile could be heard in his voice, "That you need to believe Ichigo will always come back to you?"

She nodded mutely, hugging her knees tighter to her body. She looked at him, and grey orbs met teal, "Will you promise me the same?"

Teal eyes widened by a fraction.

"Promise me you'll come back, Toshiro," she continued, feeling rather desperate and not quite knowing why. "Promise me!"

Something warm caught her hand and she stopped herself to look at it. Her breath hitched when she found Toshiro's hand holding hers in a gentle and reassuring grip. She look up to stare at his face, finding a gentle smile playing on his lips.

"Well, I would need someone I could yell at, wouldn't I?"

She choked a laugh at the way he indirectly answered her, though she felt disappointment blossoming in her heart when he did promise her, "You don't really yell, Toshiro. The closest to it that you did was exasperated shout, which is not really counted. And I thought that was why Rangiku-san is your lieutenant."

His smile turned to a grin, "Matsumoto would disagree with you. And I need to give her a break sometimes too."

"I'm the next perfect target, am I now?"

His next words surprised her.

"You're one of the few that I feel comfortable enough to drop my captain's mask," he confessed, his hand gripping hers tighter. "Truth be told, your brother is one of them too."

"You should call him Ichi-nii," she squeezed his hand back, "just for the heck of it. It would be worth seeing the dumbfounded expression on his face."

He chuckled lightly, "Maybe someday."

"Make sure that I'm in the vicinity and with a camera when you do," she sent him a somewhat half-hearted smirk.

An amused smile was what she got as a response, "Do all sisters like to torment their brothers? Or is it just those whom I have the honour of meeting?"

Her chuckle was more genuine this time, "No. It's only those who have an idiot for a brother."

His smile softened again, "This suits you better. Laugh and smile are more like you."

She blinked at him, realizing what he had been attempting to do. She had thought that he was just trying to avoid the topic completely, but it seemed that she was mistaken.

He was trying to lift her spirit.

"Thanks, Toshiro," she smiled at him.

He smiled back and squeezed her hand, before looking back at the rapidly darkening sky, "I should leave soon. My division needs me."

"I see."

She did her best to mask her disappointment, but apparently it wasn't enough. The warm hand around hers gave a little tug and she allowed him to pull her onto her feet. Her eyes widened and she turned to face him when she felt him taking her other hand.

He gave her a gentle smile, "I'll come back to you."

She felt something being pushed onto her hands and she looked down. Her already wide eyes widened even more when she found a silver necklace with a small, fragile looking snowflake made of the same material as a pendant.

Just as her attention shifted away from him though, she felt a warm touch on her forehead and a whispered, "I promise," before a small gush of wind raised around her. She looked up just in time to see a flare of his white haori before he disappeared.

She kept standing there, looking at the spot she had last seen him. Her mind heavy with worry and her hand gripped the necklace tighter. The only thing that able to ease her troubled mind, even if only by a little bit, is the fact that he had given her his promise.

And she trusted him that he'd keep it.

xxx

xxx

Karin let out a shaky breath as she followed the rest of the family on the busy street, her hand unconsciously went to the necklace around her neck, gripping the pendant with trembling fingers.

There had been no news from a certain someone and it frustrated her. Especially since no one was telling her anything.

Ichi-nii was already back, even though he had gone into hibernation – she refused to think of it as being unconscious – for about a month. The official story that she had been given was that he had been involved in an accident and went into a coma.

She nearly scoffed when her father informed her that. It was not an accident that landed her brother in that condition. And she knew the real reason.

But he was fine now.

She had been going back from another soccer practice to found him standing in front of the house, as if he wasn't just waking up for the first time after a month. His usual gang standing a little bit away, with Rukia-neesan standing right in front of him.

He had noticed her standing there frozen and lift up his hand, giving her his usual greeting with a heartbreakingly familiar grin on his face. She had been torn whether to punch the idiot or hug him.

She had done both.

He had laughed and wrapped his arms around her, chuckling softly and ruffling her hair. She hit him for worrying her and shouted to not do it again, then proceeded to bury her face onto his chest again.

They had been interrupted when Yuzu came back from her grocery shopping. Her twin had dropped the bags in shock, before her brother found himself with an armful of sobbing and near hysterical younger sister. She stepped back and quickly wiped her eyes, letting her twin have her chance to steam off at their moron of a brother.

That was about a week ago.

And it was also the day that she found out her brother can no longer see spirit.

She still had mixed feelings about it, to be honest. She was relieved that Ichi-nii would not be running around saving people and endangering his life in the process anymore. But the melancholic mood that she now often found her brother in always made her wish he hadn't.

After all,she knew that Ichi-nii had made some friends in Soul Society. Friends that he now could not meet anymore. Friends like Toshiro.

She cursed quietly.

How she hate that any thought she had would always ended with _him_.

A licker of movement at the edge of her vision caught her attention and she quickly turned her gaze, pausing in her steps.

There was nothing out of ordinary there. People walking across the street while some cars zooming through the road. A young woman was carrying her daughter while chatting on the phone. An old couple was walking slowly, hand in hand. There was also a group of small children running around, a teenager chasing them.

Somehow, though, she ignored all these, and instead focused her attention on a rather small figure walking slowly through the crowds.

White jeans, black sneakers and dark green hoodie, which was pulled over his head. None at all eye catching from the myriad of colors constantly moving as those who wore them moved.

But she couldn't take her eyes away from the figure.

A hand ruffled her hair and she looked up. Her brother smiled indulgently at her, hint of amusement twinkling in his gentle brown eyes.

"Go on," he told her softly. "You've been waiting for him, right?"

She opened her mouth, not at all sure what she was about to say. But he shook his head and gave her a light push on her back.

"Go to him, Karin. He's probably just being his usual cowardly, self-deprecating self to get himself to meet you." There was a fond smile on his face. "So go to him and beat whatever it was that was eating him inside for me, alright?"

There was flicker of something in his eyes, too brief for her to identify. A nudge on her back distracted her though, and with a grateful smile to her brother, she took off running.

Cars were honking when she unexpectedly crossed the road, and some of the pedestrians were shouting at her too. But she ignored it all, her mind focusing on the retreating figure who had made quite a distance from her during her short conversation with her brother.

"Toshiro!"

She watched as the figure started, pausing in his steps before slowly turned around. Beautiful teal eyes and snow white hair finally came into view.

It was just like those cheesy romantic movies that Yuzu and their Dad loved to watch and, no, she was not kidding about it either. Maybe it was just her imagination too, but it seemed as if everything slowed down and everything but the two of them blurred.

Choking on a sob, she covered the few meters between them, before taking a leap into his arms. Her arms wound around his neck and she felt warm arms went around her waist.

"You idiot," she managed around her sob onto his shoulder. "Why didn't you visit me sooner?"

The arms around her tightened and she felt him buried his own face to the side of her neck.

"I'm sorry."

She choked a laugh, "Sorry didn't even cover it, you moron!"

Loosening her hold, she attempted to pull away from him. She was stopped though, when he refused to let go of her, keeping instead a firm hold on her waist.

"Not yet," he murmured onto her shoulder. Her heart clenched when his voice trembles."Just. Please, let me stay like this for a little while longer."

Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back on his shoulder. She felt him breathe shakily and tightened her arms, letting the feeling of his arms around her sank in. There would be time for them to talk about what happened when he was away.

For now though, she was content to let him hold her close.

xxx

xxx

The long awaited reunion turned out to be emotionally exhausting for the both of them. She knew that the last month had not been kind to her white haired friend – for that was what they were. Friends. For now – but she didn't know until then just how much.

He told her that he had been confined in the fourth division for about three days, before Captain Unohana finally caved in and released him from her care.

She had been so very tempted to whack him on the head when she found out how utterly stupid he had acted.

Instead of taking it easy like the fourth division Captain had told him to, he had trained to the point of exhaustion. If not for Rangiku-san discreetly followed him, he would have been in that cave unconscious for hours – she refused to think days – before someone finally noticed him gone and sent a search party for him.

The third time Rangiku-san had to haul his stubborn ass to the fourth division, Captain Unohana had finally had it and had ordered him for full bed rest in the fourth division – and made sure someone was with him all the time – until he recovered enough. The usually gentle captain had then proceeded to kick him off, almost literally, to the world of living in an effort to get him to relax, complete with an order to stay there the whole day.

She couldn't help but felt thankful to this Unohana person. Both for hitting some sense to her friend's head and for sending him here.

When she asked him why, he had said, "I'm still too weak. If this goes on, I won't be able to protect Hinamori. I'm the only male in our family, so it's my responsibility to keep her and Granny safe."

Just like that she lost whatever annoyance she had felt because he had not immediately went to find her. He had that same problem that Ichi-nii had, taking way too much responsibility onto themselves than is healthy.

And ended up hurting themselves in the process, be it physical or emotional.

His visits becoming more frequent after that, though she suspected that it was partly thanks to Rangiku-san. They fell in easily back into their routine before the Winter War, as she was told what the official report had decided to call it.

This time though, they would go to the hill most of the time. Probably it was the solitude and peacefulness of the place that drew them in, especially now that the topic of their talk had become more private.

He finally told her about what his childhood was like and she was angered by the thought of small, cute little Toshiro being ostracized by the people in the village he used to live in. Afterwards she had asked him if he had any photos of him from when he was younger and begged him to show her when he said, unfortunately yes.

So it was only fair that she shared some stories about her childhood with him as well. And in exchanged of him showing some of his younger self's photos, she had offered to show hers. The non-embarrassing ones only, mind you.

Yuzu was out with her friends – no doubt gossiping about her and Toshiro's non-existent love story – and her father had once again gone for another business trip – she had to frown at that. Her orange haired brother was sitting on the couch in the living room, absentmindedly changing the channel, when they came in.

He had taken one look at them, sprung off the couch, made some lame excuse and headed for the door. She frowned at his behavior and opened her mouth to call him.

Toshiro beat her at it.

"Why are you avoiding me?" The white haired boy asked, frowning at the physically older boy.

Her brother had turned around, an obviously fake smile plastered on his face, "Eh? Don't know what you're talking about, Toshiro. I was just waiting for someone to come back since I need to go."

"Go where?" Toshiro had crossed his arms, an expectant look on his face.

She had decided to keep silent and watched where their conversation was going, standing a few meters away from them.

The orange haired male scratched his cheek lightly, "Well, that's…"

"You're avoiding me," Toshiro repeated, his voice laced with sadness and accusation. There was silence for a few moments, before his face scrunched up as if in pain, "Why?"

The older sighed tiredly, running a hand through his unruly orange hair, "Toshiro, I… I'm not a shinigami anymore."

"So what?" Toshiro gritted his teeth. "Neither is your sister and you don't see her avoiding me!"

"It's different, alright! She can still see you, know you're here without you having to use gigai. I can't. Not anymore." A hint of sadness combined with acceptance had crept into her brother's voice.

She had to bite back a gasp when Toshiro let a suspiciously sob-like growl before kicking her brother hard on his shin, sending him to the floor with a pained shout.

"You are an utter idiot," the younger boy growled lowly.

His whole body shaking with suppressed… what? Anger? Sadness? Disappointment? She was not so sure herself. She caught the bewildered look her brother had and knew that he was just as surprised with Toshiro's unusual lack of control on his emotion as she was.

"Toshiro…?" The older tried to reach out to him.

"You are a total moron, you know that, Ichigo?"

Both hers and he brother's eyes widened at him using her brother's given name. Ignoring the pain in his still smarting shin, the orange haired boy pushed himself up to kneel in front of the younger boy, who had held his head down.

"Wasn't it you who told me that we're supposed to share how we feel inside, be it happy or sad? Otherwise, we'll all feel lonely and left out? You're the one who taught me that, weren't you? So why are you doing the exact opposite right now?!"

She watched with misted eyes as her brother seemed to deflate into himself, arms hanging limply at his sides.

"I can't help you guys anymore, Toshiro," he finally said. "I can't see you and I can't even watch out for you guys. I'm useless."

Two small hands gripped the collar of the older's T-shirt and shook him forcefully, "You're not useless!"

Surprised brown met blazing teal. "So what if you can't fight anymore? You think we care about your power? No, Ichigo! We care about _you_! Or do you think that our friendship is so shallow that we'll just chuck you out of our lives the moment you're not _useful_ anymore?!"

"Toshiro…?"

"And anyway, you're finally have a normal life. Do you know how much I wish that for myself? For no more fighting and risking your life trying to save the world? You've done enough, Ichigo. Will you not trust us to keep you safe this time?"

Ichigo blinked in stunned surprise, before chuckling softly, "I can't believe I got lectured by a boy who looked like he's still in elementary school."

Toshiro snorted as he released his grip on the older's T-shirt, "It won't be the first time now, will it?"

"Guess so," Ichigo reached out a hand to ruffle the younger's white hair. "Thanks, Toshiro."

The boy huffed and ducked the hand, "Just, don't shut us out, Ichi-nii."

Her brother was stunned into silence for a few seconds, before a brilliant grin spread across his face. He then proceeded to smother the younger boy into a hug, ignoring the protest and half hearted struggle that greeted him.

The only regret that she had was that she didn't have a camera with her.

xxx

xxx

"Where are you going, goat beard?"

Karin watched with a frown as her father attempted to sneak out of the house, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her father turned around with a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Karin-chan! Papa was just going out to meet some friends! So no need to wait up for dinner!"

She let out a growl and broke into a run, tackling her father onto the floor, "Oh no you don't! Yuzu had told me to watch out for you before she and Ichi-nii went for grocery shopping. She said not to let you out of the house, especially when she had invited Toshiro for dinner tonight."

"But Karin-chan," her father whined, "Papa really needs to go."

"No, he doesn't! He will stay in the house even if I have to tie him up on a chair!"

When her father continued to whine at her, she had to frown. The old man was really trying to escape the house, and she had a hunch why. After all, she had noticed that her father's so called business trip was always on the same day as Toshiro's visits.

"Why are you avoiding Toshiro, Dad?"

The whining stopped, but before the conversation could go further, the door bell rang. Tightening her grip on her father's sleeve, she marched to the front door, where she found her friend standing patiently.

"Toshiro! Come –" she trailed off when she saw him widening his eyes in shock.

She felt her father gently loosened the hold she had on him and looked up to see him smiling gently albeit a little remorsefully.

"Long time no see, Shiro-chan."

If possible, the boy's eyes widened even further, "Ta- Taicho? What –? How –?"

Her father squatted down, gently taking the boy's trembling hand into his and put the other onto the boy's rapidly paling cheek, "I've told you it's Papa, haven't I? Let's go in first and I'll explain everything to you, alright?"

She bit her lip as she watched the two of them interacted.

She had heard her father and Ichi-nii talking about him being a former shinigami and had demanded that he told her, while marching into the room and shocking the two in the process. Seeing as how her father had adamantly avoided Toshiro, she had thought that maybe they didn't have a good relationship.

But now she could see that she had been wrong. If anything, it seemed like the two of them had been rather close.

"Karin," her father's voice brought her out of her musing. "Could you get a glass of water for Toshiro, please? It's seem like he's gone into a shock."

She nodded and, with a last worried glance to her friend who looked like he's in a trance, quickly made her way to the kitchen.

When she entered the living room, she found Toshiro sitting on the couch with his legs pulled onto his chest, with her father kneeling in front of him, trying futilely to get him to open up.

She didn't dare to interrupt them.

"Shiro-chan, look at me. Please?"

"No. You're not real. Isshin-taichou is dead and you're just my imagination," she heard his voice shook. "I'm dreaming. This is only a nightmare. It's all just a drea–"

He was cut off when he felt something warm wrapped around him. Bright teal eyes opened and the boy looked up, to see his former captain had him on his lap with his arms around his shaking body.

"Does this still feel like a dream, Shiro-chan?"

She put the glass of water onto a table nearby and silently making her way to her room.

There were things that her father and Toshiro needed to clear off between them, that much was obvious to her. So, she was going to respect their privacy and left them to have their way too long overdue talk.

It was well over an hour later when she heard a soft footsteps walking towards her room and she sat up from her bed, where she had spent the past hour staring silently at the ceiling. Turning to the door, she found Toshiro standing there and scooted over, patting the space beside her on the mattress.

He quietly made his way onto her room and gingerly sat down beside her.

If she noticed the slightly red quality of his eyes, she was not going to point that out to him.

"Did you have a good talk with Dad?" She asked softly, peering at his face.

He nodded rather jerkily, "I think so. You know," he turned to face her, eyes slightly teary. "When I agreed to your sister's invitation for dinner, I was expecting some form of craziness, seeing that it's your family. But this was definitely beyond my wildest dream."

She took his hand and squeezed it gently, feeling slightly reassured when he gripped her hand back.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He let out a deep breath before starting, "He was my former captain, you know that? Drive me nuts almost every day too. Refusing to do paperwork, goofing off the whole day with Matsumoto, having a habit of snatching me up and carrying me off somewhere to have some fun, demanding I call him Papa..."

She chuckled softly, "That sure does sound like him."

He turned to her, causing her to do the same and stared at him questioningly. She blinked in surprise when he promptly dropped his head onto her shoulder.

"Toshiro?" She called him softly and felt him took a shaky breath to calm himself.

"Then he just vanished," he murmured shakily onto her shoulder and she raised her free hand to caress his hair comfortingly. "We didn't know what happened to him and then he was declared dead a few days later. The next time I saw him was an hour ago."

Not knowing what to say, she kept quiet, offering her silent support for him. For a few minutes they stayed like that, before he shifted and lifted his head away from her shoulder, a weak smile on his lips.

"Thanks," he whispered at her, his grip on her hands tightening briefly.

"I was just returning the favor, Toshiro."

She was cheered when he chuckled, albeit a little wetly, "Thanks all the same, Karin."

"You're welcome then," she grinned, before standing up, tugging him along with her. "Now, come on. We better make sure the goat beard didn't do anything weird and see if Yuzu and Ichi-nii are back."

There were just about to step down the stairs when they heard the commotion from downstairs and the sound of someone crashing onto the floor.

She heard a laugh beside her and turned to see Toshiro chuckling heartily. He threw her a grin when he saw her questioning expression.

"I just remembered, Isshin-taichou used to randomly sneak-attack the division members all the time, including me. You would think that he'd stop after I kicked him in the face the first time he did that to me."

Grinning brightly at him, she tugged on his hand to follow her down, "That sounds like the beginning of a story. You have to tell me someday."

He grinned back at her.

"It's a date."

xxx

xxx

Karin tapped her foot impatiently as she stood at the park, checking her watch every few seconds.

"He's late," she scowled.

"Sorry."

She started and whirled around to see a white haired boy giving her an apologetic grin.

"Toshiro! Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

He just chuckled and she found herself unable to stay angry at him, "I'm sorry, but you're making it so easy. I honestly wasn't trying to sneak up on you. Forgive me?"

"Well," she made a mock thinking pose, "there's an ice cream stand over there."

He played along and sighed mock resignedly, "I get it, I get it. Double chocolate in a cone?"

She just grinned and waved brightly at him as he walked towards the stand, coming back a few minutes later with two cones of ice cream with him. He gave her the chocolate one and sat down on the bench beside her before starting on his vanilla ice cream.

"Say, Karin," he called after a few minutes of silence.

She turned to him expectantly, quarter of her attention still on the chocolate ice cream in her hand. She blinked when she realized there was a hint of pink staining his cheeks.

He fidgeted slightly, "Do you want to go steady with me?"

She blinked at him, eyes widening slightly. Did he really just…?

"I know that I'm a shinigami, and that you're still living. But I checked with the Head Captain and he said okay, so… Would you? Go out with me, I mean."

There was another beat of silence before she launched herself at him, arms went around his neck and the ice creams laid forgotten on the ground.

"Toshiro, you idiot. Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to ask me that? Of course I'd like to go out with you."

She heard him gave an incredulous laughed before feeling herself being lifted up and twirled around. Clinging to his neck, she couldn't help the laugh bubbling from her chest. When her feet touched the ground, she found her looking up at him face to face, twin smile lighting up their faces and their noses almost touching.

"I love you."

She smiled gently at his whispered confession and leaned up, whispering her answer before their lips met.

"And I you."

xxx

xxx


End file.
